Greens top poll positions
The NSW Greens party will appear at the top of the City of Sydney councillors ballot on 13 September, while Labor will appear near the bottom of both councillors and lord mayoral ballots.
The parties’ candidate groupings will be ordered as Greens, Liberals, Clover Moore Independents, and Labor. Two independent candidates Ormond McDermott and John Cooper will also appear at the end.
The ballot order for lord mayor will be Shayne Mallard for the Liberals, Clover Moore, Chris Harris for the Greens, Meredith Burgmann for Labor, and the two ungrouped independents.
Clover Moore campaigner Larry Galbraith said the traditional donkey vote wasn’t a significant factor in council elections because voters don’t need to number every box if they vote above the line.
The positions were drawn by a NSW Electoral Commission official today with lord mayoral candidates Burgmann and Harris present.
Due to the unique high profile of the City of Sydney compared with other NSW councils also facing elections, the Commission did not let the council choose its own returning officer and installed an official of its own.
Voters will also be asked to consider electoral reform that would see the City of Sydney Council broken up into three wards of three councillors each.
Incumbent Lord Mayor Clover Moore said in statement today that she had a proud record of achievement and will deliver on Sustainable Sydney 2030.
Over the past four years, we’ve unified the amalgamated city, established a firm foundation for the future by creating a Council organisation that is well managed, financially prudent and engaged with our diverse communities, she said.
The remaining candidates have focused on Moore as the key opponent to beat.
Make no mistake, ousting the Clover Moore Party will be tough, Burgmann said.
Liberal councillor Shayne Mallard said it was time for generation change and a new leadership for Sydney. He compared Sydney to San Francisco, where he recently visited, and described its mayor as a greatly loved visionary -“ as opposed to Moore.
Instead of offering a positive leadership for Sydney -“ Clover Moore has pursued her lifelong obsession with the politics of complaint and negativism, he said.
Giovanni you appear to be Mallard”s one man cheer squad. Mallard has achieved sweet f##k all on council .Mallard , with his air of liberal superiority has done little but sip chardonay with his fellow liberal poodles in Stanley st over the last four years. How self loathing would a gay or lesbian person be to support Mallard who0 represents a party that has oppressed our community over the last 12 years . It would be the moral equivalant of a jewish person voting for the nazi party!!!
Clover Moore asked Shayne Mallard and another councillor to go to San Francisco to represent her and the City to mark the 40th anniversary of our sister-city relationship; important work promoting Sydney across the world! Shayne’s partner Jesper accompanied him and paid his own way.
and Chris, Shayne has been a driving force on Council for a whole range of things! Only a few examples are the Oxford Street upgrade, better bicycle facilities, more trees, public furniture, and strong Council support for Mardi Gras, ACON and other community events and organisations.
Shayne has worked very hard for the City and I am proud to be supporting him!
I would like to know one thing Mallard has achieved over the last four years on council….just one !!! And yes Mallards trip to San Francisco WAS funded by ratepayers !
To quote Shayne Mallard “the politics of complaint and negativism.” – a cursory glance at local and statewide newspapers would confirm that it is in fact Mallard who has carved out a career glorifying complaint and negativism. He offers no viable alternative, has no policies per se and yet he feels he is qualified to disparage Clover Moore who has a twenty year career of community activism and representation. Clover has runs on the board. She has a long record as a defender of gay rights and she has a sterling record as an MP and Lord Mayor. Mallard is not in the same league. I would also like to know whether Mallard paid his own costs to travel to San Francisco, or whether he was spending Sydney ratepayers dollars???
Actually, even a cursory glance at Shayne Mallard’s eCouncillor blog – http://ecouncillor.blogspot.com/ – shows that he has a POSITIVE vision for Sydney. Rather than the political tactics of “double bluff and smear”, he’s advocating alternative policies, like campaign finance reform and better community policing. And at least Shayne’s mailouts don’t cost the Sydney ratepayer thousands of dollars a pop!
Anyone else notice that the “politics of complaint and negativism” actually seems to emanate from Councillor Shayne Mallard? For anyone who has seen them, his eCouncillor mailouts are a prime example.
Just goes to show that “generation change” and “new leadership” are no guaranteed cure for the political tactics of double bluff and smear.